Blackie and the Rodeo Kings’ 2011 release Kings and Queens gets a new lease on life thanks to its deluxe edition treatment and the current touring stint in support of the record. This latest media blitz is actually a welcome reminder of just how terrific the album is, from concept to execution: the alt-country trio, comprised of acclaimed musicians Stephen Fearing, Tom Wilson and Colin Linden, sought out roots, blues and jazz grand dames.
The resulting Kings and Queens made this year's Polaris Music Prize long list and garnered rave reviews from fans and critics alike. Linden, who is also a Grammy and Juno Award-winning producer, takes CBC Music behind the scenes with stories about a few of the titular Queens, including Rosanne Cash, Pam Tillis, Serena Ryder, Lucinda Williams and Patty Loveless.
Rosanne Cash
"She’s a good place to start, because this project would not have had any wings at all without Rosanne. She was such a wonderful and vocal supporter of our band. I played with her when I was playing with Bruce Cockburn back in 1991. She heard our band quite a few years ago and was really enthralled with it. She heard our version of 'Folsom Prison Blues' on the Johnny Cash Blues Tribute. Over the years we’ve become quite friendly and sang on an album I produced for Tom Wilson.
"When the idea for doing Kings and Queens first came up, Rosanne was the first person who I got hold of. I thought if she was into it, maybe this thing could fly. Rosanne and Pam Tillis, actually ... I knew Rosanne was a fan of Ron Sexsmith, so Ron and I had written a song, so I sent it to her. She responded immediately and when she walked in, she just knocked it out of the park."
Pam Tillis
"I knew her a little bit, because she’s close friends with my friend Gary Nicholson. We did a show together though a number of years ago for South by Southwest. She said, ‘You’re from Canada, aren’t you?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, I am, originally.’ She said, ‘There’s a band from up there and I just love them and I don’t know anything about them. Have you ever heard of them? They’re called Blackie and the Rodeo Kings.’ I couldn’t believe it! I said, ‘That’s me and my two pals!’ That led to her singing on our album, Let’s Frolic. She did such a beautiful job on it. She’s such a soulful singer: so much taste, restraint and emotion at the same time. Really one of the great. So much of why we did Kings and Queens was to do something else with Pam.
"She said she’d like to write a song with us, so she came over a couple times and wrote a couple of songs ... I gotta tell you, writing with Pam Tillis is quite an experience. Basically you make the tea and she says, ‘Hey, I got an idea while I was drivin’ over here,’ and then you move back and let the spirit come through her."
Serena Ryder
"We’ve become friendly with her over the years. Early in her career, I did a show and she wasn’t even on the bill, but I did a show with my own band and Fred Eaglesmith — it was in 2004 in Ottawa. Willie P. Bennett was playing with Fred at the time, and he’s such an inspiration to Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, and Will, kinda out of the blue, sort of prophetic in some way, said, ‘Keep your eyes on Serena. Be good to her, be there for her. She needs encouragement, she’s unbelievably talented and she’s a great person.’ It’s not something he said about very many people, but it’s almost like he was telling me she’s a kindred spirit."
Lucinda Williams
"When my wife and I first moved to Nashville, Lucinda was one of the people who made us feel most at home. When we would drive down from Toronto, when we were going back and forth a little bit more, I always felt like I could give her a call and we’d be able to go out for dinner, have a good time and hang out. She just brought us into her whole circle of people. She and I became really good friends.
"I met her the same day I met Rosanne at Austin City Limits. It was really a fortuitous day. We first worked together on a Howlin’ Wolf tribute album.... Over the years, she’s sung on a lot of my projects and I’ve produced, I think, seven tracks for her. I sent her an email asking her to do it and she replied, ‘Anytime, anywhere. Anything you want me to do. I’m there.’ She’s uncompromising about her art, but she’s also unerring in her sense of what’s right."
Patty Loveless (appears on deluxe edition only)
"She was on some of the Down from the Mountain tour, the music from O Brother, Where Art Thou? and I was that. She was complimentary and nice to me, but I didn’t see her for years and I was working on another film soundtrack with T Bone Burnett, and I didn’t think she’d remember me, but she made a point to come over and she’s such a gentle, beautiful soul and such an incredible singer, she was somebody I really wanted to have on Kings and Queens.
"I sent her both songs ('Let’s Set the World on Fire' and 'Big East West'), and she replied that she was having a real problem. I thought, oh boy, neither is in her range or she might not like them. But she said, ‘The problem is I want to do them both. Would that be OK?’ I jumped up and down for about an hour."
Related:
Blackie and the Rodeo Kings perform in Studio Q
Serena Ryder new album stream